I've started reading more and more books on childfreedom and decided to start with Madelyn Cain's "The Childless Revolution: What it Means to be Childless Today". I thought it was a pretty interesting book that outlined the three types of childless women: childless by chance (those who are unable to have children), childless by choice (AKA childfree) and childless by environment (those who wanted kids but never had the opportunity). I admit I found it hard to relate to some of these women. I got the CFers but I didn't really get some of the women who wanted to have kids but couldn't for one reason or another. All I kept thinking was "those are the kodak moments you're seeing. That's not the reality". I noticed that only one of these women was told the truth: that parenting is hard work and not all sunshine and rainbows. This book also made me realize just how ingrained the idea "it's different when it's your own!" is in our society. We really need to do away with it. Just because a person gives birth doesn't mean that they'll develop this ~*magical bond*~ with their child or...heck, even if the kid loves the parent doesn't mean it's gonna stay that way forever (when I was a kid I absolutely loved my mom and thought she was the greatest ever and now...I definitely don't think that). Hell, I'm willing to wager that this kind of thinking is partly why so many kids are stuck in the foster system*. With that said, I would recommend the book. Next CF book I'm reading: "The Baby Boon: How Family-Friendly America Cheats the Childless" by Elinor Burkett.
*There are a bunch of reasons why this is, mainly having to do with race and sex.
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